Blind bag mania overtook my senses last week and I ended up coming home from Wal-Mart with the entire Series 1 case of My Little Pony blind bags. I opened up and documented the code on the back of each blind bag and what pony it corresponds to last week, so if you need the code list it’s available over here. Last week I reviewed the first dozen ponies in Series 1 including the “Mane Six”, and you can find that review here. Tonight I have the second half of Series 1 to review, including the final nine regular ponies and the three “special edition” ones. The regular ponies include some of the most interesting G4 pony designs yet, and the “special edition” ponies… well… they sure are sparkly…

I was pretty thrilled to find the My Little Pony Series 1 blind bags at Wal-Mart early in their release, but I only had time to photograph and review half the set last week. I’m remedying that right now. The makeup of this half of the set is slightly different from the first half, as it contains the three “mystery” ponies not shown on the packaging. I hadn’t read any of the spoilers for this set, so all kinds of crazy thoughts were floating around in my mind about what the mystery ponies could be: all-new characters, Cutie Mark Crusader baby ponies, male ponies–the possibilities were endless! But as it turns out, the mystery is… glittery versions of three of the “Mane Six” ponies. *crickets*

These ponies are labeled as being “Special Edition” ponies on their collector’s cards, and they’re, uh… interesting? Basically, “Special Edition” means clear colored plastic ponies covered in glitter. I can say with no hesitation that I never in my life had any desire for translucent ponies that would leave glitter flakes in my hands every time I picked them up.

The “Special Edition” ponies are both hit and miss as far as logic goes. Twilight Sparkle is the most magical pony we’ve seen in the cartoon (outside Princess Celestia), and she’s also a teleporter, so I can easily accept that this figure captures her teleporting or casting a particularly powerful spell. Still explainable but less easy to buy into is the “Special Edition” Rainbow Dash… I suppose we can say she’s “powered up” from doing the Sonic Rainboom (or something). But a translucent Pinkie Pie…? Uh, no. Just no.

One area where this set is a big success is in giving us all-new pony designs! 8 of the 12 ponies in this set are new characters that haven’t been released in the domestic Basic Ponies line before, and some of the designs are really inspired. The four characters we have seen released in the main line are Lucky Swirl (dubbed “Lulu Luck” in the Playful Ponies line) and of course Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.

I was really excited when I saw the illustration for Sweetcream Scoops, as it depicts her as being a vibrant lime green. The actual toy is a much more pale lemon-lime color, so I was a little disappointed, but it’s still a pretty good-looking design and I think her body color is a nice complement to her pink and yellow hair.

Pepperdance and Lemon Hearts are two of my favorites from the whole series. As a spicy foods nut, Pepperdance’s red chili peppers cutie mark is near and dear to my heart. Meanwhile, Lemon Hearts’ bright yellow body with different shades of blue hair really pops out on the shelf and is totally unlike any pony released so far in G4. Cherry Spices is also pretty distinctive and a welcome addition to the line, as dark brown ponies are few and far between in any My Little Pony generation.

There are 3 ponies just in this half of series 1 that have ice cream or cupcake-related cutie marks. Adding in Fizzypop and Minty from Part 1, 5 of the 21 characters in this Series or about 25% of the whole pony sample are obsessed with ice cream and sweets. That’s a pretty alarming statistic, and it makes me pretty worried about pony obesity becoming a widespread problem in Ponyville.

Sweetie Swirl in particular has one of the most uninspired character descriptions ever:“Sweetie Swirl loves ice cream! Instead of choosing two flavors she swirls them together!” And yes, her cutie mark is a swirled ice cream cone. The sum totality of Sweetie Swirl’s personality and defining characteristic is that she likes swirling ice cream flavors. She just may be the most shallow My Little Pony ever.

The price and value of these ponies haven’t changed since last week, so I’ll just quote myself from my Part I Review: “Each blind bag pony costs an affordable $1.96 at Wal-Mart, so you can pick up an entire set of 24 for less than 50 bucks before tax. They haven’t turned up at any of my other local stores yet, so I can’t say how much they’ll cost there, though I’d wager it’ll be $2+ and maybe even $3+ at Toys R Us.

For a 1″ non-articulated pony, I think that price may be a little bit too high. When you think about it, Hasbro gives us the full-size ponies with an animal pet, accessory, comb, and real hair for about $5 each. That’s only a little more than twice the cost of one of these blind bags. I think these could have been a little bit cheaper and been a much better value at, say, $1.50.“

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

I’ve had many people contact me wanting to know where they can buy these figures, and I have to report that the best source for them at the present time is unquestionably ebay. There are hundreds of listings on ebay for both the United States and international releases of the blind bag ponies, making it by far the best and easiest place to find them right now.Click here to check out the current ebay listings for My Little Pony Blind Bag figures!

My Wal-Mart received one case of the Series 1 My Little Pony Blind Bags, which I purchased in mid-January. So far, they have never restocked and I’ve never found the blind bag ponies available for sale in a store again.

Overall: I feel both better and worse about this half of Series 1 than I did the first half. As far as the original ponies go, I think they’re some of the most fun and creative designs we’ve seen in the My Little Pony world in years! Pepperdance’s chili pepper and Firecracker Burst’s explosion cutie marks are personal favorites, and I adore the color schemes chosen for Lemon Hearts and Sweetcream Scoops. I’m not real pleased about the proliferation of ice cream and junk food-addicted ponies in the My Little Pony world, though. As far as the “Special Edition” ponies go… Meh. I can deal with Twilight Sparkle being sparkly since she’s a magic-user, and I can even accept “Sonic Rainboom” Rainbow Dash as an explanation. But clear pink Pinkie Pie is a hard horse pill to swallow, and Special Edition Applejack and Fluttershy in Series 2 are going to be just as silly. To me, the Special Edition ponies are the dullest ones, and I won’t be keeping any of them. There’s enough fresh and unique pony designs in this half of the series that it earns a slightly higher grade, and at a reasonably low price, these ponies are all recommended.

about 25% of the whole pony sample are obsessed with ice cream and sweets. That’s a pretty alarming statistic, and it makes me pretty worried about pony obesity becoming a widespread problem in Ponyville.

I choked on my drink a little, thanks. I’m surprised you didn’t comment on my favorite piece of “WTH?”-ness with this set, the fact that Sweetcream Scoops has an icecream cutie mark and icecream name and her talent is… singing. Yes, makes total sense, Hasbro!

Also commenting to point out that Lucky Swirl and Lulu Luck are in fact two distinct ponies (albeit with matching cutie marks). Lulu Luck, in her proper colors, will be released in the second “wave” of blind bag ponies. For some inexplicable reason they used the Twilight mold even though her depiction on the Playful Ponies packaging is a Rarity recolor.

What kind of back cards are these? I’ve never seen any like them for the blind bag (called “mystery pack” by Hasbro, I’ve heard) toys. Being solely English gives the cards more room to be more descriptive. Where did you get these–meaning, which country?